Slidell illustrator, Mandeville author collaborate on children's book

'Once I started writing... only an hour had passed. So, I was certain that the Holy Spirit was involved,' author Elizabeth Jamie Katz said.

For some writers and artists, fulfilling a desire to write and illustrate a children’s story book is a dream. For Mandeville resident, Elizabeth Jamie Katz, the story was literally a dream. In a vivid reverie, she envisioned a young girl dressed as a princess who would teach other young girls to be themselves, or as she put it, “wear your pearls.”

Having homeschooled her own two children since 2001, Katz was searching for something to fulfill her need to continue teaching now that her daughter, Stephanie, will be graduating from Southeastern Louisiana University in May, and her son, Jonathan, will be finishing his high school education this year.

Katz described having an intense dream seven years ago about a young princess happily dancing and encouraging other women to wear their pearls. To her, the pearls were a reference to the Biblical pearls of great value in a parable told by Jesus. “The beauty and purpose of the pearls are symbolic of an amazing plan God has for the lives of his daughters,” she explained.

In her story, the main character, a princess named Isabella, loves to wear her pearls. She literally wears them — and symbolically wears them — to show that she is one of God’s precious possessions and that she can be anything she would like to become in life. The princess travels north and south in ice and sunshine, under the sea and in the sky, through success and failure, fear and freedom. Throughout it all, she realizes God is amazing, and she is his precious girl.

Eighteen months ago, Katz decided to try her hand at combining her dream, her faith and her rhyming ability to create a storybook encouraging girls to be themselves.

“Once I started writing, from the time I picked up my pen to the time the poem was completed, only an hour had passed. So, I was certain that the Holy Spirit was involved,” she explained.

Yet, to make her dream a reality, she had to find a publisher and an artist to bring the words to life. Through research she found a Christian publisher, Dennis McClellan, who said he would like to take a look at her story. By coincidence, the pastor of Church of the King in Mandeville, Steve Robinson, spoke to the pastor at Slidell Crossfire Church, Rick Noote about her book. Pastor Noote immediately recommended Dominick Blanda who, in 2009, had self-published a book called, “Super Duper Kid Fantastic.”

When Katz contacted Blanda, he told her he would love to illustrate a children’s story book that promotes a good message. The two met every week to discuss each sketch for the book. Katz had specific images she wanted to have in the final artworks, which included clothes, her children’s artworks on walls, her Pekingese Lizzie, appearing randomly in each image, decorating and design colors in each scene, and styles and arrangement of furniture pictured.

Blanda did manage to use his own style and to base the face of the princess on his wife’s face, one that he considers to be “the most beautiful face in the world.” He recalls one point at which the author’s husband patted him on the back and asked him if he was OK.

Bob Katz encouraged Blanda saying, “You just have to hang in and realize that my wife is a perfectionist. It will all work out.” Their negotiations did work out, after both parties asserted the best of their gifts to the product. The illustrator took the track that the book should be elegant yet childlike, and the author decided upon specifics to include.

While the writer considers this storybook as a blessing that will satisfy her and fulfill her need to find purpose and help others, the illustrator views it as a blessing that rekindled his deep need to express his artistic ability. Having self-published his own book three years earlier and found success in sales through local book signing events, he found it difficult to devote time to a similar effort while both he and his wife worked and raised three young children, Kiera and Cillian and Jack.

“I had just about given up on my art when this opportunity came along. In spite of all the travel back and forth from Slidell to Mandeville and all our artistic struggles to create the product, when I held the actual, physical book in my hands and turned each page, I felt incredibly proud of what we had done,” he shared.

The book was the spark he needed to get back to taking classes at Southeastern Louisiana University in graphic arts and writing to hone his skills for the benefit of his and his family’s future. The writing and drawing partners already are at work on their next proposed children’s book, which will have a Christmas theme. DC Publishing in Sanford, Fla., is interested in a series of books with uplifting messages for children.

Katz feels that the whole endeavor has been a “God thing” from the dream to finding a publisher and finding an illustrator by coincidence. This also was the very first time that the publisher accepted a children’s book to publish. Upcoming book signings will be held at Crossfire Church, St. Michael’s Episcopal, Barnes & Noble, and Simplee Gourmet in Mandeville; will be sold in the Church of the King bookstore; and is available on amazon.com.

To keep up on events regarding the storybook, visit the website http://princesspearlsandpekingese.com.